These numbers aren't very comparable. Counting war deaths is a straightforward enterprise compared to trying to estimate smoking deaths which is based on limited statistical samples and questionable statistical models.

Evidence seems to show that smoking is bad for your health - hardly a new idea. However, the smoking death statistics are mostly an estimate as smoking isn't listed as a cause of death. Originally, the CDC didn't release their data set or model as to how they calculated the famous or infamous 400,000 number. Hopefully that has changed.

A big problem for these estimations is that smoking strongly correlates with socio-economic class in the US which also correlates with a bunch of seemingly poor health choices. Separating out the true cause isn't something that you can necessarily do with statistical analysis.

Where I live in Vancouver, BC Canada there is no smoking indoors in public places & a $500 fine for smoking in a park... I love it. As a former smoker I will cross the street when I see the smokey death wafting in front of me

Where I live in Vancouver, BC Canada there is no smoking indoors in public places & a $500 fine for smoking in a park... I love it. As a former smoker I will cross the street when I see the smokey death wafting in front of me

way too extreme.
You "inhale" so many toxins daily that passing by a smoker on the street will absolutely not affect your health, except that you can smell it which triggers your extreme reaction.
If they changed the smell of it and made it more poisonous, you would not even notice it...until they put the Ads all over the place (just like what happened with the Tobacco stuff...)

way too extreme.
You "inhale" so many toxins daily that passing by a smoker on the street will absolutely not affect your health, except that you can smell it which triggers your extreme reaction.
If they changed the smell of it and made it more poisonous, you would not even notice it...until they put the Ads all over the place (just like what happened with the Tobacco stuff...)

Only if you are a smoker... I have some liquid poison to inject when your ready {holds out a needle}. There is enough poison in the world thank you

I can only laugh about the hysterical way North-Americans deal with tobacco nowadays.

Smoking forbidden outside? But noone cares about lying on the beach next to a 4-lane-road all day, all month, all year. Inhaling all the good stuff produced by the cars, combined with dust particles from the road surface (highly toxic). But it would be impossible to WALK a few meters to the beach, instead build a road next to it, so we can park the car within 10 feet of our beach towels. Seen on multiple locations in the States, last in Ft. Lauderdale.

No misunderstanding, I absolutely love the USA, but sometimes you guys are just killing me.

Smoking is so rare these days that when you pass someone smoking it feels like an attack on your capacity to breathe, even in public spaces.

And I'm not a big fan of the noise and dirt from automobiles and I wouldn't sit anywhere near one if it could be helped.

Before its even a question of health its one of the way smoke invades your body without it being in the least desired.

Rare where???
I am in Tokyo now, went to a restaurant and asked for a non-smoking table. They took us to a "special" section that has 3 tables, behind the walls. The rest of the restaurant is smoking...

I don't know what's happening in Tokyo and there is always a certain fashionability about smoking amongst the young on the bar and nightclub scene.

But its pretty rare given that in some countries smoking rates are below 20% of the adult population.

The collapse of communism caused an epidemic of drunkeness and the current great recession in the US is also shortening life spans, so economic crisis and forms of risky behaviour are probably correlated.

I can only laugh about the hysterical way North-Americans deal with tobacco nowadays.

Smoking forbidden outside? But noone cares about lying on the beach next to a 4-lane-road all day, all month, all year. Inhaling all the good stuff produced by the cars, combined with dust particles from the road surface (highly toxic). But it would be impossible to WALK a few meters to the beach, instead build a road next to it, so we can park the car within 10 feet of our beach towels. Seen on multiple locations in the States, last in Ft. Lauderdale.

No misunderstanding, I absolutely love the USA, but sometimes you guys are just killing me.

We've stopped eating carbs in America, so I think we should be OK.............

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“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” – Plato

We've stopped eating carbs in America, so I think we should be OK.............

I almost wet my pants when I saw the sticker on the gigantic Mountain Dew bottle saying "fat free".

I mean, honestly, we're talking about second hand smoke in a park () and the guys contemplating about it live in a country where the part of the grocery store where you buy the microwaveable "food" ist bigger than your whole supermarket in Germany

Recently I read an article in the paper saying that about 50% of all Germans are obese now, and the number of obese Americans should be even higher. So, I would guess there are more urgent problems concerning public health than second hand smoke in a park

:I almost wet my pants when I saw the sticker on the gigantic Mountain Dew bottle saying "fat free".

I mean, honestly, we're talking about second hand smoke in a park () and the guys contemplating about it live in a country where the part of the grocery store where you buy the microwaveable "food" ist bigger than your whole supermarket in Germany

Americans are not easily fooled with advertising / marketing / hype. We are a savy bunch...............

Most of us have $10,000 gas ranges, $5,000 All-Clad pots and pans, and beautiful granite counter tops. Just don't ask us how to boil water.

All of this stuff works great for Chinese takeout or microwave box meals.........

__________________
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” – Plato

Americans are not easily fooled with advertising / marketing / hype. We are a savy bunch...............

Most of us have $10,000 gas ranges, $5,000 All-Clad pots and pans, and beautiful granite counter tops. Just don't ask us how to boil water.

All of this stuff works great for Chinese takeout or microwave box meals.........

Same here. I love this TV show where they place random people of all ages in a kitchen and ask them to cook (very, very) basic meals. The outcome is almost always somewhere between disgusting and biohazard

I'm 47 now, and mostly because of the potential of saving lots of money, I developed some decent cooking skills. The better nutritional value compared to fastfood was a side effect in the beginning.
Nowadays noone seems to have any clue how to do better than boiling an egg.

As an ex-smoker myself I used to find it ridiculous how people would complain about secondhand smoke. One time I was watching my dads soccer game and I was smoking a cigar... then some guy snaps his finger at me makes this weird noise with his mouth and "shoos" me away. I was sitting in the middle of two soccer fields at least 10-20 yards away from anyone else.

Nevermind fatasses eating their way to death. They are beautiful. Smokers, ugly, scum of society.

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"In the 1980's two men dominated--sometimes each other, most of the time everyone else."

^^ smoking in Asia as well as Europe has increased quite alot lately, especially among the young.

This makes me wonder about that 400,000 number. We're told that smoking is incredibly dangerous and lessens your expected lifespan by something like 14 years. Yet, a lot societies that puff away like chimneys are outliving Americans who have cut way back on smoking.

Imagine how long the Japanese would live if they didn't smoke. Something doesn't add up.

This makes me wonder about that 400,000 number. We're told that smoking is incredibly dangerous and lessens your expected lifespan by something like 14 years. Yet, a lot societies that puff away like chimneys are outliving Americans who have cut way back on smoking.

Imagine how long the Japanese would live if they didn't smoke. Something doesn't add up.

Imagine how old the average American could become if:
- better healthcare
- better work conditions, e.g. dismissal protection, more paid holidays etc. (stress reducing!!)
- lower amount of obese people

Japanese people live quite long because of exeptional good and healthy nutrition. The same happens in Italy. And the Italians are heavy smokers, too. But they eat decent stuff, they move their asses way more than Americans or Germans and their society does function well: very few singles, high birthrate, good family bondings. It's proven that people living in an extended family are more satisfied with their life and live longer than others.

OMG, I'm gonna die soon: no kids, single child, parents living more than 300 miles away... ... and I smoke...